Udaipur to get its first heritage mall this year

Celebration Mall in Udaipur, Rajasthan would be the first of its kind in the country to be built purely on a historical theme.
Arif Sheikh, president-retail at Advance India Projects Limited (AIPL), a company which develops malls, said it plans to position the Udaipur property as a heritag

Celebration Mall in Udaipur, Rajasthan would be the first of its kind in the country to be built purely on a historical theme.

Arif Sheikh, president-retail at Advance India Projects Limited (AIPL), a company which develops malls, said it plans to position the Udaipur property as a heritage tourist mall and hence has laid emphasis on its interior, which represents Rajasthani architecture, sculpture and painting making it a tourist attraction.

"Work has been going on since the last the three and half years. More than 500 local artisans are working on the project day and night. Till date, the company has spent around Rs 125 crore just on the theme interiors. It should be operational by the end of this calendar year," he said.

The project is a joint venture between AIPL and CapitaMalls Asia Limited, which is one of the largest mall management companies in Asia managing 87 retail properties in 48 cities across five countries, Sheikh added.

The mall is just two km from the Fateh Sagar Lake. "It would also have a dedicated Udaipur bazaar of 20,000 sq ft called 'KALA', which would have a lot of handicraft stalls, promoting Rajasthani culture. These shops will also give a boost to the local handicrafts trade. The mall will combine a strong element of local retail together with a host of international and national brands under one roof," he said.

The mall would house a number of utility services, such as a medical section with a doctor on call at all times. "It would also have ATM counters and other banking facilities of prominent banks," he said.

It would be the first mall in the country to be built with a facade of stone and not the usual glass and steel, he pointed out. There would be 23 water bodies and cascading fountains inside the premises of the mall and traditional Rajasthani folk dance, music and events would play on each floor of the mall.

Kevin Chee, country head (India) for CapitaMalls Asia said the mall has a retail area of 4.5 lakh sq ft with nearly 140 retail players operating in it. " The mall has a parking capacity of 520 car parks," he said.

"The Celebration Mall Udaipur will be our second operational mall in the country after the Forum Value Mall, Bengaluru. We now have nine retail projects in India and look forward to opening the remaining seven malls over the next few years," he said.

AIPL has ambitious plans of setting up Celebration Malls in five more locations in the country.

"We have already started the Royal Celebration Mall in Amritsar, which is a 100 per cent AIPL mall. After the one in Udaipur, five more would come up in places like Nagpur, Jalandhar and Ludhiana," he said.

He said the firm has set up a budget of Rs 1,200 crore this fiscal for its residential and commercial projects. "Other than the retail malls, we have plans to set up 19 hybrid celebration shopping centres this fiscal," he said.

Do You Like This Story? Awesome! Now share the story Too bad. Tell us what you didn't like in the comments